Spotlight takes home the big award at 88th Academy Awards
Photo courtesy of The Telegraph
Spotlight, Leonardo DiCaprio, Brie Larson, Alejandro G. Iñáritu, Mark Rylance, Alicia Vikander, and many others took home the big awards on Sunday, February 28 at the 88th Academy Awards, also known as the Oscars. The ceremony was hosted by Chris Rock, who began his opening monologue by highlighting the racial controversy surrounding the Oscars. “If they nominated hosts I wouldn’t even get this job!” he joked. He wasn’t afraid to go after the protestors of the Oscars, most notably a joke targeted at Jada Pinkett Smith that was made in poor taste. Rock’s overall message during his monologue was about equality, “It’s not about boycotting anything. It’s just, we want opportunity. We want black actors to get the same opportunity as white actors.” Although due to other jokes made during the broadcast one might question the Academy’s position on other minority races. At one point Rock brought out a group of Asian children to play the role of the Academy Award tabulators. One tweet from David Chen, a podcaster and documentary director commented on the joke, “Rock: ‘Check out these accountants! Because all Asians are good at math you see.’ CB Isaacs: ‘...But seriously, inclusion is a big deal.’” Also, commenting on the double standards of the Academy, whose president gave a speech regarding equality shortly after this joke was made.
Despite the controversy and a few off-putting jokes the Oscars focused mainly on musical performances and handing out awards, with Rock only appearing every once in a while to offer a 45 second bit. One of the first awards handed out were for Screenplay, these winners normally also end up as the winners of Best Picture. Sure enough, the winner of Best Original Screenplay was Spotlight which ended up taking home the big award of the night. Spotlight chronicles a Boston Globe news team uncovering the molestation scandals of the Catholic Church that was revealed in 2002. The film’s screenplay and story were riveting and engrossing, as was the tremendous acting.
Mark Ruffalo, who starred in Spotlight was expected to take home the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor but lost to Mark Rylance’s nuanced and subtle performance of a Soviet spy in the Spielberg drama Bridge of Spies. His win surprised several, including myself, but was a deserving award for a man involved in the theatric arts for 35 years. Another surprise of the night was when “The Writing’s on the Wall,” sung by Sam Smith from the film Spectre, a generic pop ballad, with tone that didn’t match the film it appeared in, won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Smith’s win snubbed out worthier wins for Lady Gaga, who wrote a stirring and emotional ballad for The Hunting Ground,” which addressed the issue of campus rape culture. As well as the beautiful operatic piece “Simple Song #3” from the film Youth.
Alejandro González Iñárritu won Best Director for The Revenant for the second year in a row, a feat that hasn’t been done in 65 years. This win beat out George Miller the director of Mad Max: Fury Road who has been making movies since the 80s, not only has the Mad Max franchise been influential in changing the tone of action cinema, but Fury Road was one of the most impressive films of 2015 and actually took home the most Oscars last night, winning over 6 statuettes.
The other acting wins were very exciting. Brie Larson took home an award the first year she was ever nominated for her excellent portrayal of a mother dealing with the pressures of raising a child, but also whilst being held captive for seven years in a shack in Room. Her performance was lauded by critics and her Oscar win will cement her status as a rising star. Alicia Vikander won Best Supporting Actress for her performance The Danish Girl, which was very intriguing, but the award should have gone to her amazing performance in Ex Machina as the artificial intelligence Ava.
Finally, the most talked about win of the night was Leonardo DiCaprio’s long awaited Oscar win. After years of nominations and starring in highly praised roles since the earliest films of his career, the actor finally won for his performance in The Revenant. The internet exploded when the win was announced, and Leo used this moment to discuss an issue very near and dear to his heart, climate change. He delivered what might be the most poignant quote of the night, “Let us not take this planet for granted, I do not take this night for granted.”